Enough with Virtual Games, Let’s Play Ball

South Korea’s biggest computer game company is set to start a new offline venture: Baseball.

Reuters

Baseball fans have raucous fun in South Korea.

NCsoft Corp., best known for its online game ‘Lineage,’ earlier this week sent a letter of intent to the Korea Baseball Organization to express its interest in adding one more team to the eight-member pro baseball league.

“In line with the company motto of ‘make people’s life more fun,’ launching a baseball team can help us achieve that goal,” NCSoft spokesman Kim Kun-woo said.

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Some industry watchers suggest that it can be also seen as part of its effort to nurture some positive image by starting a sports business. Lineage is often blamed for youth game addiction and related crimes.

If successful, NCSoft would be the second stand-alone company to own a team. The other seven teams are all part of big conglomerates – like Samsung, LG, Doosan – and take their names from them.

A western missionary introduced the sport to Korea in early 1900s. But former president Chun Doo-hwan, who seized power in a military coup, is more widely credited with making it a popular sport. Under his rule from 1980 to 1988, baseball was actively promoted as part of his “3-S” policy – sports, sex, and the screen- to divert people’s attention from democracy. In 1982, the KBO was founded with six teams.

Its popularity has surged over the past few years as Korean players have showed an astonishing performance in international play. The national team won a gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and finished runner-up at the World Baseball Classic last year.

This year, the KBO attracted a record 5.9 million fans to games that are more raucous and fun than in the U.S. and other baseball-loving countries.

In October, the KBO has signed a MOU with Changwon city, about 350km southeast of Seoul, and been in talks with a few companies on the feasibility to create a baseball team based on the city. While the final decision will be next month by the KBO board, the cash-rich software company is likely to get the green light.

The KBO couldn’t be reached for comment.

NCsoft last year reported 633 billion won ($550 million) in sales, and 182 billion won in net profit.